When Two Worlds Collide
by ImpossibleLaughs
Summary: The Guardians have been captured by Pitch Black, whom is getting assistance from an unknown source, and the only people that can help them are another world over. Percy must gather a select few on his quest to save both his and another Earth, all with a hyper kid named Barney by his side.
1. Flamingo Legs and Boomerangs

**CHAPTER 1: FLAMINGO LEGS AND BOOMERANGS**

I remember going to sleep in my bunk and having a horrible dreams, one of the worst I've had ever since we stopped Gaea.

I was in a small town, from what I could tell, that looked deserted, like a rock concert that just finished. There was trash on the street, and by that I mean it looked like the garbage trucks decided to throw up their delightful bellies of waste all over the street. The cars were the weirdest though, they had their lights on but there was no noise coming from any of them; sort of like a silent movie with that Charlie Champagne guy Leo told me to watch...something about his comedic genius? The buildings were mostly brick, some with flat roofs and others with no roof at all. It was only then did I realize that the whole street looked like a battleground, there was sand everywhere, which reminded me of the beach at Montauk; the place I learned Grover (my best friend) was a satyr. I looked closer and saw that some windows had ice on them, but the weather was clearly summer; unless I don't know my seasons. There was also bright colorful feathers on the ground, scattered around but it looked like a harpy had lost some feathers and trust me when I say this...you do not want to remove a harpy's feathers. By the time I saw the feathers I noticed that I was being forced to walk down the street. I tried to move my legs but they were stuck in motion, like someone glued my shoes to the conveyor belt they have at the airport.

The next thing I saw was probably the strangest thing I've ever seen...and that's saying something! It was a giant stone mass turned over on a car, the thing was mossy and had a line going through it like it was a plastic Easter egg. But this thing wasn't an Easter egg, it had tiny legs that looked like they belonged on a flamingo but shorter, on the side of it there was a oddly sculpted face that looked like it was saying, _"I'm trying to sleep on this car, leave me alone or I'll kick you with my flamingo legs!"_ It was sort of blur after that as I was transported to a lake that was extremely clear, I could see the fish inside but they weren't moving at all. Well they were. But they weren't. They were swimming in place. I looked around and the lake was surrounded by a forest with gray leaves, I could see some light coming from the distance and guessed that it was the town I was just in. As I was taking in the scenery I heard a small laugh, one that immediately made me think it belonged to a typical villain you see in the movies. You know the one, the one that is sort of a mumble from a closed laugh while the villain thought _"I have tied your beloved to the train tracks! MWA HA HA"_

Then there was a guy, probably about 17 or 18, with white hair about as long as mine, a blue hoodie and extremely tight pants that ended at the top of his ankle. _**Those must be** **constricting**. _He had a long staff in his hand that ended in a slight curl at the top, it looked like it was a natural tree branch. **_Not sure any of the Dryads would like_ _that._** He was running towards the lake while looking over his shoulder, I tried to yell for him to watch out but my voice didn't work...typical. When he reached the lake he was still running over it, the lake was freezing under his feet so he could walk on it. _**Okay, I have got to try that when I wake up**_**.** Just then a blur came out of the forest and caught him in the leg, he went falling head first on the ice.

Then there was the bone chilling laugh again as it said, "_I have to hand it to bunny...I do enjoy these.", _I didn't have time to register what happened next as the guy on the lake was engulfed in what looked like black sand...I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door.

* * *

**(A/N) I plan on working on the story later, just thought it would be interesting to have a sort of Prologue with Percy having a dream...if you didn't understand who was dreaming then you are a bit dense my friend. ANYWAYS, please review and tell me what you like/don't like. Should I keep describing in Percy's POV? Change POV's throughout the story? Should I keep my details short or the way I described the town in this chapter? Soon there will be a quest so let me know what demigods you want to join Percy (I should have a poll up by the time this is out, Annabeth will join no matter what). Any suggestions are welcome as I want to start writing a lot more to hold me over until R.R. finishes "House of Hades".**


	2. The Bus Stop of Doom

**CHAPTER 2: THE BUS STOP OF DOOM**

...I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door.

"Percy, get up you're going to miss the bus!" I could hear my mom's voice call though the door as she continued knocking. _**Crap… the bus.**_ See, usually my mom would take me to Montauk for a bit before I go to Camp Half Blood so we could spend time together. She calls it 'bonding', but deep down I know she thinks that is the last time she will ever see me. Paul Blofis, or Blowfish, (depending on your preference) had to go speak at some college thing a few days ago and asked if my mom would come with him.

Since my mom is the best person in the world, she declined to spend time with me…and since I am _also_ the best person in the world I; I convinced her to go with Paul for his last 3 days at the campus. I know, I know, you're probably thinking _"Golly gee Percy, you are amazing! Why doesn't everyone love you?"_ Well it's because of that statement, and the I was also hoping Annabeth could ride to camp together, but her flight has been delayed a day or two. So now I'm stuck riding the bus, _"Golly gee Percy, that sucks."_ I know.

I woke up and quickly took a shower; as much as I wanted to stay in there; I had to leave if I was going to catch the bus. I got dressed the fastest any person has ever gotten dressed, putting on a deep blue t-shirt and blue jeans with my Camp Half-Blood necklace on it. I looked at the necklace and remembered how I got all the beads on it, along with the probation I got from Camp Jupiter while I was there. I looked the newest bead which was a small carving of the Roman tattoo I had on my arm, "SPQR" and two swords crossing behind it, marking the start of a new age with the Romans. Ah, the Romans…we never _truly_ merged camps or anything, but we just acknowledged each other's existence and promptly went our separate ways. Like a rampaging old woman knows an angry child is in her way, but ignores him so she doesn't hurt him. Not that the Romans think they will hurt us, we can handle them….it's just a simile or something! When I left my room, I literally and metaphorically inhaled the blue waffles my mom made for me and she drove me to the bus stop. She tried to put on a happy mood, but I could tell she wasn't overly thrilled about having me to go camp alone. To tell you the truth, neither was I, my mom was really the only family I got to see on a regular basis and breaking this tradition just felt wrong. Especially since the last time I did it I ended up gone for 8 months and in New Rome. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain in the shortest way possible. I got abducted by the Queen of the Gods, met some Roman camp, went to Alaska, became prisoners to the company of Amazon (yes, the online shipping company), and rode the fastest foul mouthed horse to fight a giant for a gold eagle, only to return to Camp Jupiter (the Roman camp) and have a massive battle and see my friends coming to get me on a flying bronze ship with a dragon head. All in a day's work.

"Remember Percy, get off at the twelfth bus stop!" My mom told me as I got out and put my bag over my shoulder.

"Wait wha-? How many bus stops are there?" I asked. Really? Twelve bus stops? _**They probably planned that out.**_ _**Yea, they probably did. **_

"Umm, there are twelve…" She said, promptly rolling up the window in the process. _**Well, what stop is this one? Please be eleven…**_ Nope. I looked at the bus stop sign and saw a giant '#1' painted white on a blue background. _**Perfect.**_ I turned to glare at my mom, now I knew why she rolled up the window. I have a pretty bad temper when it comes to things; I never really know what will set me off though. We said our goodbyes and she told me that she packed some blue candy in my bag while I wait to reach camp. _**Best. Mom. Ever.**_ After waiting for what seemed like the next Ice Age, the bus rolled to the stop and I got on. I swiped the bus pass I had and went to the back of the bus, the driver looked up at me through the mirror and gave me a look that would probably say something along the lines of this if it could talk. _"I'm watching you kid, don't do anything stupid or I will drop kick you into oblivion."_ _**Probably the nicest bus driver I've met, most just try to kill me.**_ We picked up some people at the next few bus stops and dropped them off at other ones. After about one thousand hours of pure boredom, we got to the ninth bus stop. Oh and if you're wondering, why I haven't pulled out my handy dandy iPod or other electronic device; it's because I don't have one. See, it's basically like sending a giant flare up into the dead of night so all monsters know where I am if I use anything like that.

I looked out the window and saw it was some public building with a ton of tourists pouring in and out. Most of the passengers got off the bus whilst about three others got on. One was probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. _**Please don't kill me Aphrodite.**_ Her hair resembled a chocolate water fall, wavy and falling over her shoulders, and had sky blue eyes that could melt a person's heart at just the mention. Her face Her face looked like it was sculpted to model Aphrodite but there was a look of misery that you could barely notice. The one thing that was odd about her, was that she had what looked like a dead boa constrictor around her neck. _**Well, I don't know what's in style for girls!**_ The rest of her outfit looked like a school teacher, a peach colored top and a white frilly skirt. She walked down the aisle and looked at a little kid and said, "Aren't you adorable? I could just eat you up!" I don't know if it was just me but the way she said it sounded terribly like when she would say _"Now honey…"_. But it also sounded like a mother who would read a story to a little kid, caring but slight hint that if you did wrong…she would ground you faster than Arion could run.

The person following her was straight out of that street meant solely for walls. He had black cropped hair that resembled Tartarus itself (and trust me, you don't want to understand that reference at all), he wore a pitch black suit that looked almost purple. The suit was pretty simple but had bright gold buttons in the front and a smoky gray tie. His hands were wrapped around a small suitcase that was dark brown like mud, he must have held his heart in it because his knuckles were white from holding it. As he walked down the aisle he brushed something off his should that looked like black dirt. _**Typical business man that refuses to clean his super creepy suit. **_Normally, I would have overlooked these two but since the last two wars, my attention to detail has increased…just slightly. So I already had bells and whistles going off like crazy and immediately knew something was up. _**Maybe they are just horrible with fashion.**_ I wish.

The last person to get on was a kid about my age, he had dark brown hair that went down to his eyebrows and looked like he tried to brush it with his hands but the wind had other ideas. His nose was turned up at the point, and he had a cheesy grin on his face like he just told a knock knock joke and was waiting for someone to get the punch line. He wasn't extremely skinny, but he wasn't as muscular as I was. He wore a light green shirt that looked like freshly cut grass, cargo shorts that looked like they could hold anything in them because it looked like it had at least one thousand pockets. His shoes looked like something straight from a track line up, meant for running. He kind of looked like an overgrown elf. _**Trouble maker to the 'T'.**_ He sat down towards the front of the bus, pulled out some headphones, and started bobbing his head. We rolled off into the sunset, the weirdest group of people on the weirdest bus with the weirdest bus driver going to the weirdest place I've ever seen.

When we were heading to Montauk, our last stop, the bus started smoking. _**Oh, this should be fun.**_ A small kid who sat with his family started, um…misbehaving. Yea, let's call it that. He started complaining about the bus and calling everyone stupid, I'm no expert on kids but he didn't look like a little angel. Come to think of it, all through the bus ride he was jumping around the bus and throwing things. It didn't really bother me but it seemed to bother the school teacher a ton because his parents couldn't seem to control , the bus driver got up and said for all of us to get out so he could take a look at the engine; it was also a bajillion degrees inside. We all filed out and went our separate ways with the people we were riding with. The school teacher went over to talk to the bus driver whom was working on the engine; the business man pulled out his phone and started talking to who seemed to be his assistant. The other people went off into separate groups and started joking around like this happened every day and it was a party. I was left kind of standing there off to the side looking as awkward as possible when the kid came up and started talking to me.

"What's your name? Where ya from? Do you always have hair like that or have you considered dyeing it?" He shot questions at me like a machine gunner, I tried answering them in short bursts but I didn't feel like having a one-on-one conversation at the moment. The kid looked so happy, he actually reminded me of Leo Valdez. He didn't look like he had severe ADHD like Leo but you could tell this kid was hyper all the time. _**Maybe he drank too much Mountain Dew or something?**_

"Look, uhh…"

"Barney." He said promptly.

"Barney, I don't really want to—." I started but was interrupted by the sky darkening, some weird rumbling like the Earth was hungry. _**We like, JUST put you to bed, are you seriously hungry again Gaea?**_ My hand immediately went to my pocket and gripped Riptide. Barney looked at the sky and said something so strange, even I was shocked by it.

"Mhmm, looks like Zeus isn't too happy huh?" He said, smiling at me.

"Wait, you're a—?" I stopped mid-sentence and watched as the sky grew darker…it looked almost like midnight. Everyone was looking around and then suddenly some people started screaming and pointing at the front of the bus. I ran around the back and uncapped Riptide, Barney was a few feet behind me but he was still smiling like a lunatic. I rounded the corner of the bus to see the school teacher wearing the strangest outfit ever. She wore a ballroom dress that looked like a snakeskin, the 'stuffed boa' around her neck had come to life and was hissing extremely loud while opening its mouth that looked like it could swallow the Earth, and her hands had been replaced by large gray claws that had the nails painted red.

I turned to Barney to see him staring at the creature, stuttering like he couldn't believe his eyes. I didn't know what the Mist made him see, but I could tell it wasn't Mickey Mouse signing autographs for children. I told him to run with the others before he got hurt, I was met with a hard knock in my back that sent me flying away from the bus.

_**Okay…why isn't Barney running yet? That chick just hit a double!**_ I tried getting up and saw my ankle was broken. _**Why do I always get injured on my way to camp?**_ As I finally stood up, I saw Barney running. But he wasn't running away, he was running to the uncontrollable child who was on the bus, I saw the school teacher creeping towards child while the boa on her neck started preparing to strike. Barney, who seemed to be invisible to her, pushed her over and said something else I was shocked at.

"Sorry!" He yelled back to her as he picked up the kid and ran him over to his family. I was slowly making my way to her when she snapped her head at me and immediately sent shivers down my spine.

"Ahhhh, Perseus Jackson…you've been a very naughty child." She said as her snake started hissing, opening its mouth, and going up her arm that was pointed at me. _**Umm…uh oh.**_

* * *

**(A/N) Well there's that chapter, please review and all that jazz. I'm still trying to figure out some small stuff. I have the major plot points lined up, it's just getting from point A to B that eludes me. So this should be a welcomed challenge. Let me know what you think of Barney, my take on Percy (who may seem _a bit_ OOC) and please feel free to tell me/ask me anything in a private message or in a review! I know it seems stupid for me to say this, but I promise it will get better the farther down the line. (I'm am writing the next chapter right now) I'm stuck to updating at school at the moment in my free time, so the next one should hopefully be up soon after I try my hand at another story I feel like writing. THANKS! **


	3. The Girl With The Snake Tattoo

**CHAPTER 3: The Girl With The Snake Tattoo**

_Umm…uh oh._

The school teacher from the bus, whom smelled vaguely like bologna which I guessed, was from the school's meal for lunch. _I could use a sandwich, preferably one without bologna…that stuff smells like a snake lady. Wait, crap! _I realized that the school teacher was coming straight at me and the closest thing to a weapon around me was a Coke can on the side of the road; and even that was a couple feet away. As I was coming up with a battle plan, I glanced over at Barney, a mortal, getting the families out of harm's way. He looked at me and did something that injected courage right into my veins, he gave me the thumbs up and smiled. At that exact moment, I dove to the right, away from the can, and the snake lady howled in delight. I started running as fast as I could to Riptide, which had flown out of my hands when she hit a ground rule double with me. I did the signature baseball slide to Riptide and gripped it's hilt, ready for whatever the Girl with the Snake Tattoo could throw at me. _Wait, snakes. Beauty. SNAKES? How didn't I realize this yet?_ Realizing what I was up against, I ran onto the semi destroyed bus and made my way to the back only to come to the conclusion of two things.

It was hotter than the Sun on the bus.

The emergency exit was jammed shut.

_I think this classifies as an emergency._ The school teacher got onto the bus and apparently my plan worked, because she looked extremely agitated with the temperature…or she was mad at having to chase me. As she made her way down the aisle, knowing I had nowhere to run, she started dragging her claws on the sides of the bus to show that she meant business.

"Ssssoon, I will be the one who killed Perccccyy Jackson." She hissed, but her mouth wasn't moving. _That's not weird._

"Then, I will kill that sssstupid child outssside for what he did." _Barney._ Was the only thought that came to my brain, I couldn't let that happen. As much as he was crazy, he saved those people and now he was the one that needed saving.

"Do not worry Percccy, it doessssen't hurt to die…much."

After that sentence, goose bumps went up my neck as I realized the snake was talking and not the lady, with each flick of its tongue more taunts came from the snake while the woman had on a poker face made of steel. She was still towards the front of the bus with me at the back, so I took that as my chance to get a running start. I pointed Riptide straight at her and ran at her ready to stab her right in her ugly, well it was actually beautiful, body. Despite the temperature change, she still had lightning reflexes and sidestepped, swiping one of her claws at me. I jumped to the right just in time to barely dodge the striker, ripping my shirt, and stood on top of one of the blue bus chairs and sliced Riptide at her head. Her head dropped to the floor and she turned to golden dust, leaving behind the largest snake skin I've ever seen. _Probably the worst spoil of war I've gotten thus far._ I thought as I walked out of the bus and capped Riptide, looking really tired. The truth was that I haven't practiced in a long, long time.

* * *

I stepped off the bus and into the clearing where people were gathering. The clearing was just behind a small hill that was at the side of the road, it had grass that looked so green it looked artificial. There were a few flower clusters here and there, some white and some light ocean blue, and a few dandelions scattered like they were thrown in the wind and landed randomly. The front of the clearing was to the road, the back was to a small forest that looked calm with sun beams sneaking past the trees' leaves, and on one side there was a small pond that was what I expected it to be. By that I mean that you could tell it was water, but it looked a bit polluted from trash and other sorts, I walked up to it to see some fish swimming happily around in it as I picked up a small rock and skipped it across; only going a few feet because it wasn't a very large pond. I turned around to face the group and felt a cool breeze come from the forest on my back which was like diving into a swimming pool after the hottest day of the century. Some of the families in the group were together and consoling each other while others stood in silence wondering what had happened. I'm still not sure what they saw, but now I'm 100.657% sure it wasn't the Kool Aide Man giving a tired kid a drink of cherry kool aide. _Hmmmm, I could use a nice refreshing drink now._ I thought as I slipped into the crowd, hoping to go unnoticed like I was with them the whole time.

You might say something along the lines of this, "But Percy, why are you hiding? You're a bonafide hero! Go get your reward!" And this is about the time when I explain _why_ I don't do that. See; let's just say people and I don't mix. And by that I mean mortals and demigods. Every time I do something "heroic" I end up looking like the bad guy. Like the time I blew up the Saint Louis Arch, or the time that tiger got loose in the Bronx, or when the hell hounds busted a wedding, well you get the point. I try to stay out of the public's eye, which isn't a problem seeing as how I don't like the limelight anyways. I stood alone in the back of the crowd but just enough so you knew that I was with the group. The bus driver decided now was a great idea to see if it was safe so he went up the small hill to the road. About ten minutes passed when he came back and said the bus was fixed and it was safe to go. There were a few cheers here and there, and everyone started heading up the hill. I did a quick head count to make sure everyone was there, I noticed the business man wasn't around but figured he would be on the bus. Barney wasn't around either, poor kid must have realized how much danger he was in and just needed some alone time, but I turned around to look for him to make sure he got to where he was supposed to go safely. _It's the least I could do, the guy actually helped a lot._ I turned towards the small forest to see his figure in the shadow of a tree and turn around quickly. I started walking towards him but decided to make sure everyone was on the bus first, which they had and were ready to depart. _Okay, guess I'll walk the rest of the way._ I watched as the bus started to slowly roll and drive off into the sunset, knowing I couldn't go with them in case I attracted more monsters. I made my way to the forest to look for Barney, when I reached the forest I noticed just how peaceful it actually was. The ground was shaded, but just barely so grass could grow, and the trees looked like the healthiest trees I've ever seen; besides the ones at Camp Half-Blood. I tried to look for any tracks that Barney left, there was barely a trace that he had been there but I saw a few footprints that looked like they were fading away. I decided to follow those as they were heading to camp anyways.

* * *

After a peaceful thirty minute walk in to camp through the forest, which seemed to be thinning out the closer I got to camp, I saw Barney standing underneath the shadow of a tall oak tree. He hadn't noticed me standing a few feet away from him, so I sat there and waited for him to notice me. He reached around to his pack on his back, and pulled out a water bottle that was crystal clear with bits of water on its side. He held it in his hand, looking at it for a good 30 seconds, then uncapped it and started chugging it like a mad man. As he drank the water, he titled his head back and took such a long drink it looked like he was going to drown in the small amount of water. When he finished the entire thing, he set the bottle in his bag, put his hands in his pockets and slowly started turning as he was about to walk in the direction he was heading. When he was in the middle of his first step, turning in the process, his eyes set on me. _Okay, this may seem a bit weird to him._ I started walking to him with a slight smile on my face and he had his cheesy smile going from ear to ear and he waved at me. As I got within comfortable speaking distance, I got my first good look at him.

The first thing I noticed about him were his eyes, they were dark brown like mud and had a sense of wonder and joy deep inside them. His eyes also had a deeper emotion hidden within them that someone would barely notice while talking to him, they held sadness. I was then that I realized his eyes were similar to some old war veterans I have seen before; with eyes that could brighten a room because of the wondrous joy, happiness and beauty they have seen, but darken it because having seen great loss and sadness just as much, if not more, than the happiness. He looked like he could provide an answer to any question, he looked…wise. His hair was dark brown like dark chocolate and was hanging loosely on his head; it looked like he tried to style it with his hands or a brush but gave up in the process and just let it do its own thing. His muscles weren't as toned as mine but you could see that he had some, barely above scrawny but appeared to be able to hold his own in a fight or any other physically demanding situation. His smile was cheerful, childish, and mischievous; it seemed like it could take away all of the pain in someone's heart, but it could also cause serious pain if he let it. He was slightly taller than me and had an air of about him that said _"I know I'm a bit awkward, and I'm okay with that."_ He seemed like he would be really fun to hang out with on a weekend at a friend's house.

"Hey, I knew I should have taken that left at Albuquerque!" He said with a smile on his face, pointing to his left. "What are you doing here? Ya know, following someone in the forest may seem normal to you, but to me it screams creepy."

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me get those people out of there, you helped a ton." I said, wondering why he didn't stay around to get praise from the people he saved.

"Eh, it was nothing. Just trying to help out I guess." He said with a shrug of his shoulders, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, "What was that thing anyways? She looked like my old kindergarten teacher, except…ya know…with a giant snake for a pet and after I fired a spit ball at her again." He leaned on the tree, still smiling at me like I was supposed to get the joke or something.

"Yea, well, um it was um…" I paused for a second, wondering how to tell him, "It was—," I started but he interrupted me with a look of finally getting a punch line to a joke he heard 10 years ago.

"That was Lamia! I remember learning about her in class once." He paused, trying to remember what he learned, "I think she likes to prey on kids who are awesome— I mean bad." He stated, looking at the ground while remembering the fact then looking at me confused, "I thought she was just a myth?" _Oh great…this question._

"Well, she is. But honestly?" I paused, looking at him and he nodded signaling for me to continue, "All of those monsters are real, they always have been. The Greek gods, their Roman aspects, the Underworld, Olympus…all of it. I'm not sure why you can see them though; usually it shields mortals from seeing them."

"What shields mortals?" He asked, looking like a confused dog.

"Mist." I stated simply.

"Missed what?" He asked, looking around like he missed something important.

"Ha ha, no. The Mist. M-I-S-T. It is kind of like a filter, it makes things understandable to mortals." I said, remembering my first lesson on the Mist, I still didn't understand it completely..

"But why can I see through it?"

"That's what I'm wondering, very few people can. And I mean _few._ There's a place I'm going to, I think you should come with. We'll be safe and figure out if you're what I think you are."

"I'm not a monster." He said, looking a bit taken back by my assumption.

"No, I just think you might be something, um, special."

"Ummm, okay. Try not to sound too cryptic there. Where are you heading?"

"It's called Camp—."

"Half-Blood?" He asked and I have to say, this guy keeps shocking me more and more with each conversation we have. "Because, well, that's where I was told to go, something about training. I'm not really one for going into the army, just the games for it! Didn't really want to go but someone convinced me and he said it would be fun, and of course…" He paused and gestured to himself, "I'm all for having fun." He said with a huge smile and a gleam in his eyes.

"Yea, it can be pretty fun, that's actually where I'm heading. Wait, who told you to come here?" I asked him; _Shouldn't a satyr be with him?_

"Oh, um, just a-a friend." He said and tried to avoid eye contact with me. _He isn't going to tell some stranger his life story the first time they meet_, _baby steps Jackson._

"It'll be much safer if we go together, it's about half a day's walk there." I said, looking at him with a smile on my face, "Up for the challenge?" I was hoping we could go together for his sake; plus I was a bit lonely and wouldn't mind a conversation with him now.

"Sure, why not!" he said while slinging his bag on his shoulder, "Let's get going! Allons-y!"

So we walked for a _really_ long time, it felt like 10 days but it was probably a few hours. Talking to Barney was like taking a Math test in slow motion with no hands… frustrating. I explained to him what Camp Half-Blood was, about the gods, monsters, training, cabins, and the people there. When we got to the subject of cabins he asked "So, that means that you have brothers and sisters? Well _half_-brothers and _half_-sisters."

"Yea, why?" I asked him, a little confused on why he would ask this question about his siblings as opposed to the monsters or Mount Olympus or even how they got here with the movement of the West.

"Do you have friends there?" He asked again, ignoring my previous question.

"Yea tons." I told him and saw his small smile as he simply said, "Cool."

The rest of the walk was pretty normal, well define normal with Barney. He has a weird sense of humor, but I caught some of his jokes and thought they were pretty clever. I could tell he was a pretty fast thinker, even for someone who looked like they had a severe case of ADHD and a sugar rush. I picked up small details about him so I could try and get to know him. He likes running, joking around, playing games, hanging with friends, dancing, bread, food, girls, baseball, holidays, the words pumpernickel and milk, and well come to think of it…this guy likes everything. I asked him if there was anything he didn't like and he stared at me like I was Hades in a swim suit having a pool party with Aphrodite dressed as a manticore.

"What's there to dislike?" He asked me, I listed some of the usual stuff.

"Oh ya know, monsters, death, loss, heights, snakes, poodles, clowns, gods in an angry mood."

"Without the bad stuff, how can we appreciate the good stuff we have? The two go hand in hand; one without the other is like Batman without Robin. So in my eyes, all of it is good in the long run. No matter how we feel about them at one moment." He told like it was common knowledge. I looked around and we could see the pine tree, marking the camp boundaries, in the distance.

"There it is, we are almost there."

"I thought you said this place was close?" I was wondering the same thing.

"Maybe you just walk slow?"

"Or maybe you are horrible with distances."

"Touché"

"Wait, don't I have to sign up for the camp? I don't have parents so I can't get them to sign a permission slip, I can't just walk up there and act like I've been there all along. I tried that at a school once, I actually lasted pretty long until they found the gravy covered banana." _Wait, what?_

"No, don't worry. We'll figure it out when we get there." I told him, wondering how everyone would take the news of me leading a possible mortal into camp…I was hoping I was right about what I thought he was; and it was definitely _not_ a mortal.

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**(A/N) Got a couple things to say since I haven't updated in a bit due to problems I've been having. School problems, life problems, computer problems, you know...just everyday life for a teen I guess. Anyways, I'm stuck to updating/writing from school only so I won't be able to write as frequently as I wanted to. Hopefully this changes by the end of the month or middle of next month. I was having a major case of writer's block after last chapter and got some inspiration from a song I heard yesterday on Pandora. Sorry but this chapter is mainly a filler, since I wanted to expand a bit on Barney but I wanted to connect the dots on how they got to camp. Hopefully next chapter picks up a bit as that's where he plot kicks in, _hopefully. _I may have a short story about Barney's back story later, to explain why he acts the way he does, I've actually thought it out and I think it's rather good. I may change perspectives for a bit later, to give me a chance to write for other people. Also, since daughterofthehunt mentioned it, I got rid of the bold font and replaced Percy's thoughts with italics instead. I want to thank you all for reviewing, following, and my gods even _some people favorited_ my first story! It really means a lot and has driven me to write more. Also, bit more dialogue in this chapter. Also, don't forget to vote on who you want to join Percy on the quest!**

**So far Barney, and Annabeth are joining him for sure. That leaves 2 more spots! GO VOTE OR TELL ME IN THE REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU ALL!**


	4. Barney the Dragonborn

**CHAPTER 4: Barney the Dragonborn**

As we walked up to the hill with the Golden Fleece, yes the actual fleece, I warned Barney not to flip at what he would see next. Knowing him, he would climb on it and start trying to tame it like in this game he mentioned, I forget the name but I really wasn't really paying attention anyways. We were climbing up the hill to the pine tree that was once my friend, long story and it involves her being a pinecone face, when I heard a loud gasp from behind me. I looked behind me to see Barney, with eyes that looked like they could engulf the world, gazing at Pelues; the guardian of the fleece.

"That's, that's a, a….DRAGON!" He jumped up in joy and started running towards it, I was a bit taken back as I expected him to turn away and run for his life. Pelues actually looked menacing when he wanted to; and now was _definitely _one of those times. Barney was right next to the dragon when he bowed slightly and looked up into the giant dragon's eyes and mumbled something. _Is he proposing to him?_ Pelues looked like he was about to burn Barney to a crisp when instead the dragon just nodded slightly and looked up into the air and shot a fireball at a 45 degree angle; to which Barney responded by jumping on the guardian's back, screaming some weird phrase and saying he was the Dragonborn. At first I was terrified that Barney would die instantly, Pelues rarely lets anyone touch him (let alone climb on top of him like a mechanical bull), but was relieved when Pelues' expression seem to show happiness. I never knew they could, but Pelues was smiling in a weird dragon way like he was actually happy someone decided to play with the guardian instead of avoid him. I walked up to Barney and just watched him as he pretended to slash a sword at invisible monsters. _This kid has one wild imagination._ He saw me in the corner of his eye and then looked straight at me; he then started laughing like a lunatic because my face was one of complete confusion.

"You…look…so…so…haha…" He managed to only get out laughs and fractions of sentences in between his laughing, the reason I may have looked confused because I have _never_ seen anyone climb on Pelues and start battling invisible monsters. It was like I was seeing Zeus try to do standup comedy, downright crazy and weird. After he stopped laughing, Barney hopped down from Pelues, bowed, and said a few words that I didn't hear. The dragon huffed and nodded his head again as if he were saying, _"Yes Dragonborn, we shall do battle against the monsters later; even if you are completely nuts."_

Barney noticed that I was still confused by what he just did and tried to explain, "How would you feel if someone just jumped on you, attacking monsters? I asked for permission and he said yes, great dragon you got there Percy. Could use more people to play with though, maybe a rubber ducky? Can never go wrong getting a rubber ducky, see?" He pulled out a small yellow rubber duck with blue eyes and an Elvis hair style from his pocket, how he kept it in there is something I'll never know.

"What if he would have just sat there?" I said, ignoring the rubber duck comment, I already learned to just let Barney ramble because if you mentioned anything besides the main topic then he would keep rambling on and get farther from our original conversation.

"I would have left him alone, I'm crazy Perce but I'm not suicidal. He could easily roast a Barney-cue and I wouldn't have a say in the matter. Although, I would recommend some BBQ sauce because one, it tastes _great_, two, everything goes great with BBQ sauce – well except for some fruits because I never could get the toaster to work – and three, I am told I am quite bland and would do well with some sauces or seasoning."

_This guy's cheese has fallen off his cracker. _I thought to myself, truly believing I was with an escaped patient from an insane asylum.

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After getting Barney to calm down a fraction so I could focus, we looked over at Camp Half-Blood; my home, my friends and my family. We sat there staring at the camp; the strawberry fields, the cabins, the Big House, the pavilion and everything within our view until I noticed something really weird. _Where is everyone? This place should be packed by now. _I thought to myself, seeing as how we arrived a bit later than I usually do; I have Lamia to thank for that one.

"WOAH! This place is awesome!" Barney screamed as he raced around the Big House, shooting questions at me and pointing at different stuff.

"Is this where the Olympians meet? Do they wear togas? Do they know how to use computers? Do you have a treasure room with cool stuff from monsters in it?" He asked so many questions that I lost track at which one I was answering while I tried to massage my temples from the headache he was causing.

Before I could see where he was going, Barney raced off towards the cabins screaming with delight.

"Do you live here? Do we pick our own cabin? Because that one, I guess it's Hermes' judging from the caduceus, looks awesome! How many people do they fit? Or does it even matter because they are smaller on the outside?" He asked, acting like he was a kid discovering candy and getting his first sugar rush; which he seemed to be on constantly.

"Where is everyone?" I asked only to be answered by a familiar hoof stomp near the amphitheater. "Wait, that's Chrion, I guess they were having a meeting; but with _everyone_?"

We walked towards the pavilion to see the campers in distress, all talking at the same time with a few people standing in front of everyone. Everyone started quieting down and staring at Barney and me as we walked to the front of the amphitheater, towards the meeting leaders. The few people whom were standing in the front all turned to us with grim expressions on their faces; I saw Annabeth, unofficial co-leader of camp, Thalia, Lieutenant of The Hunt, Jason and Reyna, praetors to Camp Jupiter, Chiron, leader of Camp, and Nico, son of Hades and ruler of all things creepy. I did a double take as I looked at everyone, wondering why Jason and Reyna were here; only to see that they brought friends. Tons of friends. Not only was all of Camp Half-Blood attending this meeting, but _all_ of Camp Jupiter was as well. _I hope we are here to play Capture the Flag, or maybe have a picnic._ I only saw the younger demigods from Camp Jupiter so I assumed the ones in New Rome stayed back, not wanting to leave their home. The next words that came out of Chiron's mouth shook me to my core, even without knowing the situation completely. I knew why everyone looked terrified, I knew why they had gathered, and I knew what was coming next; I just didn't want it to.

"Percy, they're all gone."

**(A/N) Was going to end there but I love you guys/girls so I shall keep going.**

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"Ya know if life were a movie…that would be a great cliffhanger." Barney said with a smile on his face after staring wide-eyed at the centaur, breaking the tension in the air in the process and causing some campers to smile. He started poking Chiron's leg asking if it was real, how he sat in a chair, and how he put pants on if he wanted to.

Chiron turned to Barney with a questioning look on his face, one that he rarely has.

"And who might you be?" my mentor asked with a warm smile on his face, looking down into Barney's dark brown eyes while Barney kept smiling like a lunatic.

"Barney." He said, sticking his hand out to shake Chiron's hand, who was slightly shocked as he was used to people bowing. He smiled and shook Barney's hand, leaving everyone else looking thoroughly confused as to why Barney felt the need to shake his hand instead of bow; Chiron had a sort of aura around him that subconsciously told people to bow in respect.

"Who might your parent be?" Chiron asked, I was wondering the same thing but I had my guesses.

_Hephaestus? No, he doesn't seem to be the builder type. Athena? No, he is way too insane. Apollo? Maybe, but he is NOT a great singer. Hermes? No, he looks like a troublemaker but his personality says otherwise. Big Three? No, he doesn't have a strong aura like Thalia or Nico. _

My brain went through every god and goddess I knew, trying to see which one would likely be Barney's parent. I must have looked confused because when I looked at Annabeth, she smiles and I could have sworn she said _"Seaweed Brain." _Although, she looked like she was sizing up Barney the same way she did to me the first day I came to camp. Like she was trying to figure out how to take him down in a battle, but her look on her face told me she was having trouble deciding if he would be good in a fight or not.

"I am Barney, son of Phil and Maggie, Keeper of Awesome, Protector of All Things That Need Protecting, Forever the Optimist, The Dreamer of Dreams, The—_oof._" Barney started rambling off stuff but I elbowed him, I've already gotten used to his rambling; which he does more than Mr.D complains about camp. I'm not sure if he rambles only when he's nervous or if he just likes sounding confusing; probably a bit of both. Everyone within range of his rambling was looking more and more confused by the second, so I decided to fill them in on what happened and how I found him. I told them about Lamia, to which Chiron was surprised because apparently she is a rare monster, about the change in weather, Thalia looked nervous at that, about Barney saving some people, to which he just waved his hand like it was nothing, and about our travel to camp. Everyone sat there listening to the story, it wasn't much compared to other stuff I've done but I could tell they looked at Barney in a new light. Not a light that shined down on some hyper kid who talked too much, but one who actually had a bit of courage, or insanity depending on how you viewed it.

I could tell he wasn't used to this much attention as his face turned as red as Rachel's hair and he found a sudden interest in the ground. After I finished telling the short story, everyone stared at Barney wondering the same thing. _"Who is this kid?"_ And to be honest I was asking myself the same question, I felt like I knew him all my life but I also felt like I barely knew him. I knew nothing about his life, his likes, his dislikes; all we knew were two things. His parents were named Phil and Maggie, unless he was just rambling and made up something in front of everyone, and his name was Barney, which could be a lie as well. _Why would he feel the need to lie? Doesn't he know that he's safe here? Why did he run from the group of people after the monster attack? Why did he look so sad? Why…_ I was snapped out of my thoughts by a fire shooting off near the pine tree. Everyone looked over to Half-Blood to see a giant wall of black going towards the Big House and Pelues being covered by it as well. By this time, everyone was already up and had weapons drawn; ready to face the threat that shouldn't have made it past the magical barrier. The mass of black went over the fields in camp, swallowing some unsuspecting satyrs and nymphs in the process, slowly making its way to us. The embodiment of darkness stopped a fair distance in front of us, as if it were letting us bask in the fear that was rising up my spine. I've seen some pretty scary stuff, I've felt terrified and felt like running, but this thing sent something I never felt in my entire life. I felt fear, not just like a fear of clowns wearing goat hats, but a fear that made me want to lay down on the ground in the fetal position and try to hide from everything. _What is that thing?_ Then, out of the blackness, over a gajillion black horses raced out of like a river of fear, darkness, and rage. The campers got into the formations the Romans taught us, ready to defend our camp and as the horses rushed closer and closer; I realized they were made of black sand.

_Just like the sand from my dream…_

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**(A/N) Thanks for all the reviews and everything! It means a ton to me that people reviewed my work, I know it started off slow but now I hope it will start picking up. Isn't Barney confusing? Hopefully some of you caught my little references and throwbacks to parts of the other books as well as some other things. I've been pretty busy with school and felt wrote this in one day, but reviewed it like crazy for three more until I was happy with it. I'll get to work on _The Lonely Mechanic_ soon, don't worry, but I have to kind of work myself up to that mood so I can write a bit better for it. I've already decided who will go on the quest with Percy, which will be revealed soon, as well as some other interesting things that will happen to them and others. I think I'm slowly, but surely, getting used to writing Percy's POV (it includes a ton of similes metaphors, and a touch of randomness provided by yours truly). I can't really think of anything else to put here, I had it all planned out but I guess the MIB wiped my memory of it, so thanks again for reading (or skimming)! Hopefully ya'll like it, and if you don't then tell me why and how I can improve in a review! I have other stuff in the works as well so keep an eye or three on that! I LOVE YOU ALL! GOOD NIGHT NEW YORK AND DON'T SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN!**


	5. They've Forgotten!

**(A/N) Quick thing, this chapter is a bit dark so if you don't like a hint of torture (it's very mild) then you can skip this chapter. It's not** _**vital **_**to the story but it is a good read (in my opinion, but I'm the author so everything I write is a good read to me). NOW, without further ado, Jack Frost's POV!**

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**CHAPER 5: THE CHILDREN HAVE FORGOTTEN! A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE**

**Jack Frost's POV**

Darkness.

That's the first thing I remember.

It was dark, and it was cold. And I was scared.

Wait, I guess I should explain who I am because you are probably wondering.

My name is Jack Frost. And I'm a Guardian. How do I know that? Because the moon told me so.

I know what you may be thinking, "Jack, you are crazy! The moon doesn't talk!" To which I will simply reply by asking if you have ever heard the expression of the 'man in the moon'? I'm hoping you have, every kid hears it at least once in their life. Well he's real, and he guides us on what we must do to protect the children. So now you're probably wondering, "Jack, who is 'we'?" Well, the other Guardians of course! I'm their newest, and most spectacular, member! The original four members are people you have all heard of, but as you grow older…you forget them. But they don't forget you. Sounds a bit weird, I know, but bear with me okay? I've got to explain some stuff to the newbies for a bit. So all the veterans out there, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the fantastic story I'm about to tell you.

What was I saying again? Oh yea, the original four members of the Guardians. Santa, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and the Easter Kangaroo-I mean the _Easter Bunny_. A while back, about ten years ago, they ran into a bit of a problem. And let's just say that it was pretty bad, the problem's name? Pitch Black. They've been holding him off for centuries, but he rose up with a power exactly like Sandy's; black sand. Not just any black sand, it was the exact opposite of Sandy's power. Sandman gives children good dreams, peace, and happiness. So you can probably guess what Pitch's sand does, it creates fear, nightmares, and death. So after having a meeting on how they could handle the new problem, the man in the moon, Ole Saint Nick calls him Manny (kind of catchy I guess), told them they needed help. That's where yours truly comes into this adventure. We fought Pitch, it was hard, it was scary, but we did it; with the help of you of course. No, not _you_ specifically, more like you meaning the children. It sounds corny, I know, but they helped us and showed that they protect us just as much as we protect them. Now, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this, well it's because I'm in a cell with the other Guardian's that is inescapable. Let's just say I'm hoping you can go get help because we could really, _really_ use it right about now. But let me just explain how we all got into this predicament shall I? It all started about a week ago, maybe. Time passes so slowly here I am really not sure how long we've been here.

I was walking through my favorite little town; I haven't been there in a very long time so I decided to pay my favorite kid and his friends a visit. Jamie, the first one to believe in me, and the first believe in Jack Frost. When we were younger, we would play games and enjoy life, even before he knew I existed. Ha, this one time I sent Jamie flying on a sled- wait, sorry off topic. Anyways, I was walking to his house to see him playing basketball, now I'm not a fan of basketball but I was itching for a good game of _something _and I would settle for anything_…_even basketball.

"Hey, Jamie! How's it going man? Want to play a game?" I asked, very eager to have fun after dealing with some trouble in the South Pole; some penguins were getting territorial against some snow men and let's just say I stopped WWIII. It would have ended sooner but then the rebellion of SAE (Seals against everyone) came in and started a 3 way war, which took a long, _long_ time to bring to a halt and have them all united under one flag. Yea you guessed it, _my _flag. I'm not some hard ruler; I'm just sort of the voice of reason for the creatures of the South Pole, my base of operations. And those operations are…FUN. It's actually a really peaceful and fun place, but I'm rambling again so let's get back to the story.

Jamie didn't answer me at all; he just kept shooting baskets. Like I was…invisible.

"Jamie, hey kiddo! How's it going?" I asked, finally in spitting distance of him but he just ignored me. I reached my hand out to turn him around but…my hand went through him. I was a ghost to him.

"J-Jamie?" I asked, unable to believe he would stop believing after all we've been through.

I tried in vain to get his attention, I tried to get a snowball and throw it him but before I could bend over to make one, I collapsed. My skin became warm and I felt sick, not like _"Let's skip school today because we feel 'sick'"_ sick, I felt _"I think I would rather die than be alive right now"_ sick. So there I was lying in the snow wondering what had happened. Why Jamie had forgotten, why I felt horrible, and where the Guardians were. As if on cue, Santa's sleigh came crashing over a hill close to me. By crash, I mean _crash_. There was smoke, fire, and some black stuff that looked like extremely tiny pieces of coal.

I got up from the snow, which took about as much effort as holding up the sky up does, and quickly ran up to the sleigh, calling the Guardians' names while wondering what could have caused them to crash in the first place. It was then that I saw it, the thing I thought we would never see ever again. Pitch's Sand. I looked at the Guardians to see they were all pale and sickly. Bunny was no longer in full form, he was in his tiny bunny form, Sandy looked like an old man and sort of morphing into the sleigh as if he were a wet sand castle, Tooth had some of her feathers and looked unconscious while Santa looked the worst. He was the exact opposite of every depiction of Santa ever, no rosy cheeks, no cherry smile, no big belly, he was just a big guy wearing red that looked like he was about to puke.

"Jack, we ain' got much time mate." Bunny whispered as he slowly got up from the sleigh and cautiously patted his foot on the ground, causing a hole to appear. Then, three Easter Eggs (the large stone ones that hang out in the Warren) popped out along with some of the Tooth Guard (an elite group of fairies that protect the Tooth Fairy) and some Yetis (from The North Pole) all were thrown onto the ground in front of us.

"Bunny? Wha-What happened?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around what was happening.

"Pitch is back mate, and he's stronger than ever…and…"

"The children Jack, they have forgotten." I heard from the sleigh and turned to see Santa sitting and using his sword as a sort of cane, "No one at all believes in us."

"Ohhhh but's that just the start Santa." I whirled around to see Pitch Black standing there in some weird black armor, "I've got much more in store for you all." As those words escaped his mouth a wall of black sand burst from behind him and came rushing at us like a river, pushing all of us to the middle of the town. As I was trying to get a hold of my surroundings and stand up, I saw all of the Guardians were unconscious, I prayed they weren't dead as there was still hope. I didn't know where it was, but I knew there was hope.

"Always the last one, eh Jack?" I heard Pitch's voice as the Easter Eggs were thrown from where they were, one of them landing on a car while the other crashed into a small building; taking part of the roof with it. A large shadow seemed to engulf Sandy and Bunny, swallowing them and leaving nothing but Bunny's boomerangs behind.

"W-why are you doing this?" I asked, trying to buy myself time to gather my strength.

"WHY? WHY? WHY!" Pitch screamed but then seemed to calm himself and sigh, "Ahh Jack, poor poor Jack…_Frost_. I really want to tell you I'm doing this for power, for fame, for glory. But really it just comes down to good ole fashion _revenge_." He hissed as Santa was also swallowed by the shadow, along with Tooth and her Guards leaving nothing but feathers behind. I was alone in a destroyed town, no friends, no family, and no help. The only thing I could do…was run.

I used the last of my strength to get the wind to carry me towards the lake, trying to get away from Pitch in vain. I collapsed in the forest, struggling to get farther away from him but immediately heard his maniacal laugh behind me. He was stronger, faster, and scarier than ever while I was weak with no power.

"Aww don't be afraid Jack, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to give you a new home, one with the Guardians and some friends! After all…" He said quietly, slowly trying to swallow my body in his shadow on the forest ground, "…someone wants to meet you." At that moment, I used some long lost strength in me to bolt up and run across the lake, only to trip from something hard hitting my foot. My cane fell to the lake floor, leaving me on a small patch of ice that was slowly melting away on the lake.

I heard Pitch's bone chilling laugh as he said, "I have to hand it to Bunny…I do enjoy these." I sat there, staring at the forest, as I was slowly engulfed in black sand that burnt my entire body.

Darkness.

I woke up to see only darkness. As my eyes tried to adjust, I saw the hint of red from Santa's suit to my right. I saw Sandy's small body to my left, they were both unconscious as we hung there. We were chained to a concrete wall, from what it felt like, and our shackles were made of Pitch's sand. I struggled to break free but the shackles only grew small, shooting something small into my wrists and ankles. It felt like small knives were being dug into my skin the more I struggled. I stopped my attempt to free myself, letting myself hang from the wall and rest. About a minute passed and the shackles loosened, allowing my damaged skin to slightly be exposed to the cold air.

"I-is anyone there?" My throat scratched, feeling as though I hadn't talked in months, as I tried to contact the unconscious Guardians that were beside me.

"Ahhh, the Hero awakes." I heard a voice say, it wasn't Pitch's voice; this one was way more frightening.

"Shall I do the honors?" Pitch asked the other voice, earning a small chuckle from it.

"He is yours after all."

As soon as those words left his mouth I felt like I was going to explode, volts of electricity shot threw my body which caused me to try and jump from the wall from which I hung. The electricity stopped as sudden as it started, letting me rest and gasp for air while I was hung from the wall. I hung there willing the water to freeze around my restraints so I could break free, only to be introduced to another shot of electricity.

"Ah ta-ta Jack, trying to get away so soon? Without saying goodbye?" I could feel Pitch's evil smirk from wherever he was, "I'm insulted." He growled as more electricity shot threw my body. I hung from the wall again, trying to recover from the torture only to be questioned more by Pitch and his unknown co-worker.

"As you can assume, this is going to go on for a while and it's only going to get worse. Now, due to the pain, you'll be screaming a lot and I find it hard to understand between screams so I'm giving you this one time and one time only. Any last words Jack _Frost_?" Pitch growled, pulling me towards him from the wall; effectively causing my shackles to dig into my already raw skin.

"Watts up Pitch? Oh sorry, I was just a little _shocked_ you mustered up the courage to attack again. Seeing as how we- AHHH!" I screamed from the pain of more electricity shooting through me, effectively knocking me out for what seemed like an eternity. That's right boys and girls, I'm unconscious right this second so if you don't get help, I could end up worse...married. No but seriously, please go get some help. Maybe the Leprechaun, or Cupid? Just, go get someone! Because we might be the Guardians of Children, but we need help from them as much as they need us. So go! Run! Get Help! Before it's too late...

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**Third Person POV**

Jack Frost hung on the concrete wall unconscious, covered in cuts and bruises, next to his fellow Guardians in a very similar state as his. He slowly awoke to the sound of water rushing and he carefully, and slowly, lifted his head, trying to ignore the pain in his neck, to see where the noise was coming from. He then decided to try and wake up one of the Guardians next to him, Santa Claus.

"H-hey Santa…Santa wakey -wakey big guy." He whispered, wincing as those words rolled out of his mouth due to the fact that he had done nothing but scream for what seemed like years. Santa stayed silent as the water became louder and louder until it was deafening when the sound stopped as quickly and abruptly as it started. Jack wondered what could possibly be going on outside the door where Pitch left, he waited for what seemed like hours until he was filled with an immeasurable amount of hope.

The door busted open like a raging river, allowing water to flow freely into the chamber while covering the Guardians, effectively waking them all up. The Guardians tried to adjust to the new source of light behind the door that looked like a fire engulfing everything in its path, until they heard a small laugh. This small laugh resembled that of a laugh a co-worker might use to hide the fact they were laughing in the first place, more commonly known as the 'Office Laugh'. That small laugh quickly turned into a slight chuckle, then just as quickly turned into a laughing fit one might have when a very good 'Knock-Knock' joke has been told.

"Hahahahaa ohhh man. Now _that_ was fun. Hey Percy, can we go again!? I'll let you ride shotgun!" A voice yelled towards the door as a scrawny figure stood up, picking up a long wooden object, strapping it to his/her back afterwards, and started walking towards the Guardians whom were drenched in water, confusion, and hope.

Jack could faintly hear a voice respond, "Barney, just hurry up and get them out of there!" and then a large explosion occurred, causing some debris to fall down.

"Ah!" The figure known as Barney screamed as he side stepped from the falling piece of concrete, "Watch where ya falling! I'm walkin' here!" He yelled at the slab of ceiling, as if it would have a conversation with him on how it could not alter its path of falling.

The person that stood in front of Jack was about as old as a teenager with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes that looked at least 20,000 years old, a scorched green hoodie and cargo shorts, as well as a smile on his face.

The boy saw the people chained to the wall and said something that ignited hope into all of the Guardians, "So Santa, am I on the Naughty or Nice list?" with a flash of his smile as he pulled out a large knife and began cutting away the Guardians' restraints.

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**(A/N) Like I said, not _that_ dark, but it was a little bit and I felt the need to put a little warning at the top. Yes, this is the definition of a filler chapter but I really wanted to try and show what happened to the Guardians and have a little bit of foreshadowing as well! Jack was pretty fun to write, nice change from Percy, and I may do Barney's POV with what's to come. *maniacal laugh*. ANYWAYS, took me a while to write this chapter. Mainly because I was so stuck with how to write the continuation of the previous one (battle), which I have figured out how I'm going to do that, and I decided to write this because I said "What about Jack Frost?". I've also been working on _"The Lonely Mechanic", _which has gotten great reviews so far so you should check it out because apparently it's good (big surprise for me I guess). Like always, due to the fact that my blood flows with The River Lethe in it, I forgot what I wanted to put here but I'm going to respond to some reviews from last chapter so there's that...**

**Daughterofthehunt: I love reading your reviews, they make me extremely happy in every possible way. Sorry if you wanted to see what happened at Camp Half-Blood this chapter but I hit huge writers block with it for a while. *puppy dog eyes* Pwease forgive me. And never, ever, EVER lay off the Doctor Who. I'm wearing a Doctor Who shirt right now and that show makes EVERYTHING better in life. Barney is really fun to write because he is based off me, lame I know, but he is amplified by a fraction but that's really how I act I guess. "Completely Insane" according to my mother. I'm on a writing spree so I'll leave you alone and let you get on with your life. Allons-y!**

**Englandrules83: You don't need to be a guy to understand the story, it is a bit confusing right now because I was still "learning to write well" but I think I got it down so expect a bit of explanation in the next few chapters as well as some more questions! Also, do try to write clear please. I had a bit of trouble understanding what you wanted to say. Live long and prosper! (Me from the future, I jumped to conclusions and am a complete idiot, sorry Englandrules! Thought you spoke English as your first language!)**

**Guest: Nice guess but no, Barney is not Jack. Barney is so much more. *Evil Scientist Laugh*You'll find out later, don't you worry your pretty little head about it! To infinity and beyond!**


	6. Meeting a Hermit

**CHAPTER 6: MEETING A HERMIT**

**Percy's POV**

So there we were, in the middle of a sea of black, hacking and slashing at the threat that seemed to do no terrible damage to us. I could barely see in front of me and tried desperately to control the swings of my sword to avoid hitting anyone on our side. I slashed at one horse while another knocked me off my feet, after being turned to dust from an arrow fired by an Apollo Camper, I felt like I was fired from a cannon. My whole body ached and my head was pounding while I was terrified of what was happening because no matter how many we destroyed, ten more seemed to fill its place.

_This thing is like a Hydra times ten!_ I screamed in my head as I turned to see who was beside me in the sea of darkness. To my right I could barely make out Chiron running through the sand with Annabeth and an Apollo camper on his back, slicing and shooting any horses in their path while he trampled them. The battle raged for a few minutes but let me say this, if you've ever been hit by a wave from the ocean, add the pain of being trampled by a horse and you have what I experienced whenever one ran through me. I was on the brink of passing out from exhaustion when all of the sand stopped in place as if frozen in time, then all of it collapsed to the ground, dissipating into the Earth.

I quickly looked around to see that no one was fatally injured, just a few cuts and bruises (myself included). As usual, Barney was nowhere to be found so I decided the best place to find him would be where we least expected him to be...the Big House. Every time I walk up to this building I get flashbacks, good and bad, of when I was younger. I remember being fed Ambrosia while Annabeth said I drooled, discussing plans for the Battle of the Labyrinth, and the beginning of the Battle of Manhattan. I opened the door, being followed by my friends and Chiron, to see Barney passed out on the floor and pale as a ghost. I walked up to him to feel his forehead and felt it cold as ice, I summoned some water from the air and splashed a bit on his face to try and wake him up as gently as I could. Mission accomplished. His dark brown eyes opened instantly and looked up, surprised to see a mass of people looking down at him..

"Barney, are you alright?" I asked, I don't know why but for some reason I somehow felt responsible for him. I felt like it was my mission to protect him even though I knew he would be in constant danger, due to being a demigod but also because he's Barney. I pretty much decided that there was more to him under his exterior than what he let on, he looked sad at moments when the attention wasn't on him or his eyes would droop as if he were remembering something terrible and long forgotten. Plus, I was just plain curious as to who he was exactly, I just met him and yet I felt like I knew so much and so little about the guy at the same time. When he finally got his bearings, he lifted himself into a sitting position on the ground where he had fallen and started looking around the room for something.

After about three seconds of him looking around quickly he turned his dark brown eyes to me, "Fine thanks. Now, where's the attic to this place?" He asked as I looked at him, wondering why he would need to go there.

* * *

**Barney's POV During Battle (I know right?)**

The black sand came rushing towards us like a pack of angry toddlers hungry for either blood or peanut butter...I was hoping for peanut butter. Everyone around me jumped into a ton of seemingly random formations and started pulling out weapons..._where can I get a weapon? Do you happen to have a magical bazooka blessed by Zeus? I'll settle for a large stick blessed by Superman. Was he a God? I think so, he's freaking awesome! Oh right, sand threatening to kill us..._

I snapped out of my random thinking to see myself in a small hole in the sand. It was swirling around me like a hurricane of tar, I could see bits and pieces of other people slicing through sand and every once in a while I would have to dodge a rogue sand formation. _Was that a poodle?_ I wondered as time seemed to slow down and out came the creepiest dude of the century.

He was pale, like that newly bought white crayon you get and never use unless...well, you never really use it. His hair was slicked back with what looked like grease and was long, about to the ground. Wait, he was wearing a black trench-coat. I focused a bit more and saw that his hair went down to the back of his neck, his trench-coat looked like the blackest black there was (almost purple) and I thought I could see ripples in it of random shapes and sizes. His hands were behind his back and his voice was smooth but I could tell instantly this guy was bad mojo and wanted nothing more than to either offer me some delicious chocolate-chip cookie dough his girl scout troop was selling or to cause only fear and panic, I was really hoping for the ice cream offer. I tried to imagine him in a pure white outfit with the name tag, "Mr. Devour-Your-Soul-But-First-Eat-This-Poisoned-Ice-C ream" (or Phil to his friends), and a cheesy grin on his face as he drove down a suburban street in his pure white ice cream truck blaring annoying music to attract kids and their parent's wallets.

"Well hello my good fellow, I was just passing by and saw this beautiful camp and thought I'd pay a visit." He grinned at me like he knew something I didn't, which he probably did.

"I'm pretty sure you're too old for camp, maybe they have a cool Greek nursing home nearby?" I said as we did the signature 'two-people-walk-in-a-circle-having-intense-banter ' thing that always happened in movies.

"I see you're just as promised my little goblin." He stopped and waved his hand, creating a throne of black sand from the ground. _Wow, what a lazy man. Ha, a lazy man sitting on what looks like a "Lazy Boy" chair. Wait, did he just call me a goblin?!_

"I'm not a goblin! Okay, I admit I can be a bit of trouble but I look nothing like a Green Goblin. I'm a fan of Mr. Parker's work and like the spider dude!" I retorted truthfully, Peter Parker does take good pictures; well from what I've seen. He is fictional after all. The dude with greasy hair was about to retort but was knocked flat on his back as a horse came barreling through the barrier with a goat boy riding on it hitting the horse on the head with a tree branch.

"Ugh! You imbecile!" He screamed as I saw a golden necklace hidden under his coat collar. It was in a weird shape and I swear on my love of anti-jokes that I saw a tiny person in there, it looked like a surfer dude with bright shiny teeth. The lazy man caught me looking, or he thought I was, at it and quickly covered it up with his dark collar. People think I don't pay attention but in all honesty, I see a ton of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. No one seems to ask my anything though, I guess they assume I'm stupid. Which is _completely_ wrong, I'm just eccentric...or goofy. Not _stupid_.

"It's no use my old friend, you will _never_ win. We've taken both parties, all that's left is the humans and what can they do besides delay the inevitable a _day_?" He spoke as I felt myself lose control for a minute. If you've ever had a lucid dream, which is having control over your dreams basically, you have this feeling of floating and seeing everything...that's what was happening to me. I was still in my body but I couldn't move at all, I was just a spectator to some other force.

"Hello Black! About the humans, they're all I need to stop you. There is more to them than meets the eye, haven't you learned that?" I spoke, which was weird because it was my voice but not my words. _Not cool, do I have a split personality? Are you mystical Barney and I'm awesome Barney? _I thought as something actually answered me!

_Being mystical is awesome Barney. _Some voice told me, it reminded me of an old man scolding a kid for some reason.

_I didn't think that!_

_No, I did._

_What? Stop that, give me back my body!_

_You'll have it back, first I talk. Then we talk face to, er, face. _

_But that is my face? What are we going to do? Talk to myself(ourselves) in the mirror?_

_Not exactly, I'll explain once I impede the spell._

_You're going to remove a spell from office?_

_That's impeach Barney._

_Oh, right._

I was so caught up in talking to myself (well my other self, or that guy, you get my point) that I missed out on an important part of the conversation because I focused just soon enough to see a dark green sword with a brown hilt in my hands clashing with a giant black spear.

"It's too late, in one week's time both will be gone forever. We will have won, then we will destroy the others and forge new worlds." Black (I'm assuming that's his name) gritted through his teeth as he did a swiping motion with his spear to try and knock me (us?) off my (our?) feet. Luckily I'm(we're? You know what, I'm just sticking to me,myself,and I) super cool and jumped off the ground in an instant to slice through the guy's shoulder. Almost instantly he turned to a pile of black sand that sank slowly into the Earth, when the barrier of sand disappeared I was in front of some really big house. I walked in and collapsed onto the floor at the drop of a hat, that was when I had an _extremely_ weird dream.

* * *

I was in the middle of a lush forest but it looked abandoned of all wildlife, all that stood was a small cottage that was made inside the largest tree I've ever seen in my entire life. I cautiously walked up to it and knocked, how would you feel if someone barged into your house? I'm no Goldilocks.

A voice called, "Come in Barney." and unless he was talking to a purple dinosaur he meant me, so I walked into the cottage to see something straight out of "The Hobbit" (the movie of course, why read the book when you can see the movie?) It had a low ceiling, dark hardwood floors, nice candle lighting and an all around homely atmosphere. As soon as I entered I felt extremely relaxed but aware of everything around me, the rocking chair in the corner, the portrait of a guy that looked like Santa and a giant bunny, a few boxes labeled "Future Pranks", and a ton of weird stuff in jars with animal names and orbs floating inside them. I looked for the source of the voice but what caught my eye was the only thing on what appeared to be a dinning table, was a picture frame. I walked over to it and examined a beautiful portrait of an old guy, and I don't mean he was a looker. It was painted really well though.

The guy had a rather long beard, lucky, and wore a dark green wizard's hat. His ears were being put down by the hat, they reminded me of cow ears, and he wasn't wearing a shirt at all except some necklaces and a strap that might have gone to a messenger bag. He looked like an old hermit, but fit and wise. I admired it for a few seconds until the voice spoke again, this time I nearly dropped the painting.

"It's rude to stare Barney."

"Wha-" I started to speak but was interrupted, rudely I might add.

"We don't have much time so I'll just go ahead and start. I know you want answers to questions you've had all your life but I can't answer them, not now at least." I looked at the picture to see the man in the portrait moving like in Harry Potter movies or a hologram.

"Ya know, it's rude to interrupt someone when they're speaking." I said, forgetting to put up my filter for my motorboat mouth only to see the man smile gently.

"I knew I chose the right person. But back to business," He shivered like it was terrible to talk seriously like it was for me, we were then transported to a beach in front of the worst sea storm I've ever seen.

"Do you know why the sea is restless?"

"No I-"

"Never mind," The portrait waved it's hand like it didn't matter if I answered, "It's because it is under no rule. They have taken the Gods and Guardians, the world is plunging into chaos without their guidance. You hold the key to both of them escaping and us winning the coming war, you need to go upstairs into the attic and find the scroll of Star Trek." He smiled at me like I should know what he was talking about.

"Scroll of What?" I asked, confused at what I thought he said.

"I am truly sorry Barney, but I have to go. My energy is depleting, once you perform it correctly, assuming you don't die, you need to find the Workshop to start your quest. I'll be with you, in spirit at least." The storm was picking up and waves were crashing down on the beach as he spoke.

"Wait, what about my dad?!" I yelled as the portrait turned into a regular old painting and I was crushed by a wave of water but only after hearing the words, "He's alive." run through my head as I was swallowed by the raging sea.

* * *

I awoke on the floor of the house in a puddle to see a ton of people, the horse guy, and Percy looking at me. Knowing what the guy in my head said I had to find the attic to this place and activate my Klingon powers or something like that. I know what you might be thinking, "Barney, how can you trust a guy in your head? Are you insane?" Well, I might be insane but he didn't seem threatening and he knew something about my dad. If I could find him and ask him more questions...I could learn where I came from.

"Barney, are you alright?" Percy asked, the guy was oddly concerned for me. Not that I didn't like it, it was nice having someone care for you; even in a brotherly way. I felt like I owed him something, he saved my life from that hot snake chick and helped me reach this camp.

"Fine thanks. Now, where's the attic to his place?"

* * *

**(A/N) So I haven't updated in a while for good reason. I kind of lost momentum with the story and interest but I thought I would tough it out till I found that spark and I think I did. Decided I am going to switch between 3-4 POVs throughout the story but keep the max at 2 per chapter. Been going through some tough times and working a lot, plus I have summer school (Government and Econ) so I'm rather busy at the moment. You all know how I forget what I wanted to put here so if I tend to ramble...yea. Going to focus a lot more on plot development, the first few chapters were really fillers in a sense but now I hope to get to the best part. The "intro" was the hardest to write, I had to set the background, setting, etc. and I think I have done a sufficient job on that! Been writing "The Lonely Mechanic" as well, which has gotten some good reception so you should check it out! I will try my hardest to update this as fast as I can but I had to force myself to write this chapter while listening to Pandora and talking to a friend, I think it turned out well! I _really_ liked writing in Barney's POV, my favorite so far. Mainly because he is just so random, deep, and awesome (I know...I'm biased). So now I'll respond to some reviewers because people do that right? Right? P.S. Please review to let me know how I did, I think I have improved greatly in my writing ability since I first started! **

**puckoberon: Ummmmm...no comment. *shuffles away awkwardly* **

**daughterofthehunt: Again, love reading your reviews. They make me extremely happy and all fluffy and all that jazz. I probably did last chapter a bit too early but I wanted to write with Jack, don't worry though! I'll explain how they got there! Last chapter was sort of a glimpse of what is to come, if that makes sense? In all honesty I don't know why I wrote it, it just felt right. Good, never quit on DW! (That season finale...I only cried 500 times)**

**shalalalalalala: done.**

**GeekyGirlMeow: I didn't realize how long it has been so I guess the people owe me updating this chapter to you my good friend! Barney is not, I repeat, _NOT_ Jack at all. He does know more than he lets on and I'll see if I can explain it at all in a later chapter, especially now that we know he has daddy issues! (Yea...he has way more issues than just daddy issues)**

**ImpossibleLaughs: That's my name bro! Already wrote more (look above) and are you Batman? I recently had a meeting with him and told him about my FF. **

**Thanks again for the support and everything! I love all of your faces and hope you have/had a great summer!**


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